¿Tot with a heart run by remote control

A baby girl born with a hole in her heart has had a revolutionary operation to fit an elastic band to an artery - run by remote control. Ava Barker had the operation after being diagnosed with the condition when she was just three months old.

A baby girl born with a hole in her heart has had a revolutionary operation to fit an elastic band to an artery - run by remote control.

Ava Barker had the operation after being diagnosed with the condition when she was just three months old.

The procedure – known as pulmonary artery banding – involves fitting an elastic band around a major artery.

In the past, children with the condition have had to repeatedly go back under the knife to correct the pressure being applied by the elastic band. But Ava, from Stockport, has become one of the first in the world to be fitted with a new gadget which allows the band to be adjusted by remote control.

It means she should not need to undergo surgery again until she is old enough to have the defect permanently fixed.

Dad Marc, 37, said: “To look at her now you would never know she had undergone open heart surgery. She is a happy baby and doing very well.

“There have already been a couple of occasions where the band needed tightening and she would probably have had to go under the knife without this device. Instead they were able to fix it in a matter of seconds with the remote control.”

Ava was born at Stepping Hill Hospital in July.

At 12 weeks her parents Anna, 25, and Marc, who are both police officers, took her to the doctor thinking she had a cold.

But she was diagnosed with respiratory illness bronchilitis and further hospital tests revealed her heart condition.

She was transferred to Alder Hey Hospital where she underwent surgery, aged just five months.

Marc said: “As first-time parents it was so worrying when she was diagnosed with heart problems.

“We feel very privileged that she could benefit from this new treatment without which she could still be in hospital undergoing operations.”